Tonnarelli pasta with cheese and pepper, the recipe
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been that long since I became a fan of cacio e pepe pasta.
I tried to prepare it at home and, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts, I managed to make it very good.
This is the recipe for you.

Ingredients

– 350 grams of tonnarelli (or spaghetti, if you prefer, but with fresh pasta the dish is definitely more complete);
– 150 grams of grated pecorino romano;
– 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper;
– Salt (for the pasta);
– Water (for the pasta);

Preparation

Start by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the tonnarelli and cook until al dente. This usually takes about 8-10 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. In a bowl, mix the grated pecorino romano with a little of the cooking water. Make sure to use a good, high-quality pecorino romano for the best flavor; mix vigorously until you get a fairly thick cream.

In una padella metti il pepe macinato a scaldare. Quando il pepe inizia a cuocere, e te ne accorgerai dal fatto che gli occhi inizieranno a pizzicare, aggiungi un poco d’acqua di cottura e spegni il fuoco.

A couple of minutes before the pasta is ready, drain it (be careful not to throw away the cooking water because we will need it for a successful outcome) and finish cooking it in the pan with the pepper.
In a couple of minutes the pasta will be ready and will also have made a little creamy sauce.
At this point, turn off the heat and wait a couple of minutes for the pasta to cool. In fact, if you add the pecorino cream to the pan now, the excessive heat will make the cheese string instead of remaining creamy (at 65 °C the fat begins to separate and the proteins coagulate into lumps).

Transfer the tonnarelli to the bowl with the pecorino and pepper. Add a couple tablespoons of the reserved cooking water. This cooking water is important, as it will help create a cream with the pecorino and pepper. Stir quickly and vigorously to make a creamy sauce. Continue adding the cooking water, a tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. The sauce should be creamy but not too thick. You may need to add 1/2 to 1 cup of cooking water, depending on the pecorino and pasta you are using. Taste the pasta and adjust the salt, if necessary. Pecorino is naturally salty, so you may not need to add additional salt.

Serve the tonnarelli cacio e pepe immediately, garnishing with a little freshly ground black pepper and extra pecorino, if desired.

Do you like cacio e pepe? Add your own comment or go to the bottom of the site to read what other visitors have written.

Photo taken with Honor 20.

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The text of the post was written with the help of ChatGPT, a language model from OpenAI.